i like autumn, especially in places where the seasonal changes are\nmore visible. in new zealand, most of the trees are not deciduous and\nremain green all year, so there are less of the dramatic displays of\ncolourful leaves giving way to skeletal branches. here in munich, we\nhave leafy green privacy in spring and summer, then in winter\neverything is exposed. autumn (“herbst” auf deutsch) is a\ntime of change and colour, the days are still warm and the weather is\nusually more settled. people return from holidays, school starts\nagain, and there is a busy atmosphere of preparation for the coming\nwinter months.
\n
\nbut there’s one thing that i don’t like:\nleaf blowers. this year it seems that our building maintenance has\ndrastically increased it – the guy was here yesterday, only six days\nafter he was here last week. the noise is the worst part of it, it’s\nlike a small noisy motorbike revving for half an hour outside my\nwindow. it’s noise pollution as well as fossil fuel consumption and\npollution. but what really makes me crazy is that it’s a completely\npointless exercise: the day after the paths have been blown, they\nlook exactly the same as they did the day before. leaf blowing\ndoesn’t remove leaves, it just moves them around, and with the\nslightest puff of wind they simply blow back onto the path.
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\nif\nit was a leaf vacuum cleaner, that would be different. if the leaves\nwere quietly raked into a pile then bagged and removed, that would be\nfine – and wouldn’t take any longer than the leaf blower, who wanders\naround waving his machine almost randomly, talking on his phone or\nsmoking a cigarette. if the leaves (which are small) were simply left\nto lie on the path (which is dry) that would be fine with me. but the\nleaf blower is definitely not fine! \n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"